Siegel wakes up at 7 a.m. and heads to the barn to feed, water and rinse her hogs. She cleans their pens, waters them throughout the day and then heads to volleyball in the evening. After she finishes her nightly chores, including another feeding and watering and walking the 260-plus pound animals, she’s finally headed to bed around 11 p.m.

“The only problem is it’s just hard to balance out where to go when, and to decide when to stay here and when to go to volleyball, so it’s been going really well,” Siegel said.

The Eagles volleyball player is one of many Crawford County athletes who show at the fair while juggling conditioning and practices. Her teammates, freshman Caitlin Koschnick and sophomore Claire Ehmann, are among them.

“It helps because we can go back and forth together,” Siegel said.

Since the age of 3, Siegel, 14, has been showing hogs and cattle, and once she discovered volleyball in the seventh grade, she learned to make it work. Siegel plays year-round, and is a member of the Select Club volleyball team coached by Colonel Crawford’s Amber Christy.

Like most, Siegel’s 4-H projects start in March, meaning the balancing act goes on much longer than one week in July.

“The most difficult time is coming into the summer, like May through August, that is usually the busiest because I do the state fair also (July 23-Aug. 3),” Siegel said.

The balancing act of being involved in 4-H and athletics may have its tough moments, but it’s something Siegel and countless others like her wouldn’t change for anything.

“Just have fun with it and just relax and don’t stress yourself out,” Siegel said.

“That’s what I do, I stress myself out, but by the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where you are at. Just have fun with whatever you do.”